This study analyzes American images of the Dutch since the
second half of the nineteenth century. Works by John Lothrop
Motley (1814 - 77), Douglas Campbell (1840 - 93) and
William Elliot Griffis (1843 - 1928) are explored to
assess the transformation in American thinking about the
Dutch of the Netherlands and Dutch-Americans. These writers
celebrate the Dutch as proto-Americans while using the
characteristically American typological approach to history
to make sense of themselves and their country.

G.H. Joost Baarssen is researcher at the
RuhrCenter of American Studies, TU Dortmund University.